Walking Tall
Originally written for The Milpitas Post
Directed by: Kevin Bray
Starring: The Rock, Johnny Knoxville, Neal McDonough, John Beasley, Barbara Tarbuck, Kristen Wilson
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense violence, sexual content, drug material and language
Parental Notes: This is a hard PG-13, much closer to an R. Teens will probably like it but some sequences, including one torture scene, may be too intense for preteens.
“Walking Tall” is one of that breed of movie which causes reviewers to pen phrases like “testosterone-fueled fantasy” and “by the numbers.” It is “inspired by” the same story as the 1973 movie of the same name, but it has changed all the details of Sheriff Buford Pusser’s story. The gist, however, remains the same: a good man cleans up his beloved home town.
This is a thoroughly standard sort of movie, a big dumb action flick that’s more about the fight scenes and living vicariously through the main character than anything else. Chris Vaughn (The Rock) is presented as a perfect man, the kind of guy who can bust heads, play football, and rabble-rouse with the best and then go home and be a perfect son to his parents. We’re supposed to overlook (or cheer for) his vigilante style justice, his willingness to be judge and jury, because the guys he’s up against are Very Bad Men.
Former Special Forces soldier Vaughn returns home to find the lumber mill which sustained his hometown closed, a barely-legal casino full of drugs and prostitutes in its economic place. When his nephew overdoses on some of the drugs the security guys at the casino push, Vaughn goes postal, smashing up the casino’s machines and its security guards with a length of cedar lumber. The security guys subdue him, then beat him and leave him for dead for good measure.
When Vaughn refuses to take the casino owner’s bribes to stay quiet he finds himself on trial for smashing the place up. Surprise, surprise: he not only refuses to plead guilty (because the important thing here isn’t the crime, it’s the justification) but makes an impassioned speech to the jury which gets him acquitted and elected sheriff. From the sheriff’s office he’s able to start cleaning things up the old fashioned way.
It’s kind of a shame that this isn’t a better movie, because The Rock is well on his way to becoming a serious action star. He consistently rises above the cheesy and predictable movies he stars in, demonstrating that he can not only act but can laugh at himself too. Presumably these films count as paying his dues and eventually he’ll move on to material closer to the quality of his acting.
This is a movie which will make reasonable folks capable of logical thinking roll their eyes at least as often as it makes them cheer Vaughn’s righteous anger. This isn’t a movie to think about, it’s a movie to enjoy on a purely visceral level. If you’re looking for anything but a by-the-numbers, testosterone-fueled fantasy, go elsewhere.